Gillette Campground
4Heads up4 fires, nearest 25 mi
- Right now
- OpenInside the published season, our reading; a database flag says not open
- A night
- $31From, per site
- Sites
- 29All of them booked ahead
- Season
- – October 27Closes October 27. No opening date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices
In the agency’s own words
Gillette Campground is located directly across from Lake Gillette, approximately a quarter-mile from the lake's shore and surrounded by a stand of lodgepole pine and tamarack. Keep reading
Recreation
Ample recreation opportunities such as hiking, bicycling, swimming and boating in nearby Gillette Lake are popular activities from this campground. OHVs are allowed to drive in and out of this park.
Facilities
Gillette Campground has 29 single sites, vault toilets and drinking water. Bear proof garbage containers are located around the campground loop.
Natural Features
This forested campground provides shade to many of the campsites. Gillette Lake is nearby and can be accessed by foot from the campground. A covered area with a large tree trunk is an interesting attraction along with access to Rufus and Springboard Trails.
Nearby Attractions
Visitors enjoy Gillette Lake, a covered area with a large tree trunk and access to Rufus and Springboard Trails for hikers.
What the agency tells you
Bears and cougars frequent the area; keep all food out of site in approved containers or locked inside your vehicle and remove all food from area after eating.
SCRS & Recreation.gov policy states we will keep your reserved site until check-out time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. If you haven't occupied it at any time during this period, your reservation is null and void and we will give it to first come first serve campers. Your reservation will be a no show and no refund will be given.
There are no electric site hook-ups at this facility.
Everything else this campground posts · 2
Click here for more information on Colville National Forest
Don't Move Firewood: Please protect Pacific Northwest forests by preventing the spread of invasive species. Firewood can carry insects and diseases that can threaten the health of our western forests. You can make a difference by obtaining and burning your firewood near your camping destination.Visit dontmovefirewood.org.for further information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 29
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 55 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…Gillette Campground has 29 single sites, vault toilets and drinking water. Bear proof garbage containers…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…has 29 single sites, vault toilets and drinking water. Bear proof garbage containers are located around…”
- Bear boxes
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Fishing
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 144th darkest of 400 in WA
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $31 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
30 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 29 mapped sitesAll 30 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 29 of the 30 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 01 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 82 ft | 321 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 02 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 82 ft | 261 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 03 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 90 ft | 203 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 04 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 155 ft | 70 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 05 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 106 ft | 79 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 06 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 82 ft | 74 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 07 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 91 ft | 167 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 08 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 82 ft | 78 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 09 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 91 ft | 141 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 10 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 91 ft | 55 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 11 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 98 ft | 122 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 12 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 98 ft | 27 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 13 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 66 ft | 78 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 14 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 66 ft | 83 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 15 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 97 ft | under 10 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 16 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 117 ft | 20 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 17 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 122 ft | 55 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 18 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 122 ft | 116 ftGillette Creek | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 19 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 96 ft | 124 ftGillette Creek | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 20 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 85 ft | 215 ftGillette Creek | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 21 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 85 ft | 264 ftGillette Creek | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 22 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 87 ft | 234 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 23 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 87 ft | 303 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 24-host | host pad | 45 ft | 258 ft | ||
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 25 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 131 ft | 343 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 26 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 85 ft | 386 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 27 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 72 ft | 329 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 28 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 72 ft | 391 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 29 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 88 ft | 312 ft | $31 |
| GILLETTE CAMPGROUND | 30 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 101 ft | 383 ft | $31 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 30 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Lake Gillette CampgroundColville National Forest · 0.2 mi
Lake Thomas CampgroundColville National Forest · 0.8 miLake Leo CampgroundColville National Forest · 3.1 miLittle Twin Lakes CampgroundColville National Forest · 5.7 mi
Big Meadow Lake CampgroundColville National Forest · 8.2 mi
Edgewater CampgroundColville National Forest · 12 miFrom Colville, WA: Head east on Hwy. 20 for approximately 20 miles to the Colville National Forest campground sign. Turn right onto Pend Oreille Lake Rd. and go 1.2 miles to campground entrance.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ione, WA
Typical weather
Typical October night 32°F, day 54°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical October night 32°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Gillette Campground is in Washington’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Michael Baumgartner (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →